Galley
|upkeep_cost = |num_figures = |moves = * |melee = |ranged = |defense = |resist = |hits = |abilities = Ranged Attack x8, Transport 5 }} The Galley is a type of Normal Unit that can be created in any Town containing a Ship Yard. Galleys are fast sailing ships that can be used to transport up to 5 units across Oceans, and are themselves incapable of moving on land. While Galleys do have some combat capability, their main purpose is hauling cargo, rather than doing battle. Galleys have a Construction Cost of , and require an Upkeep Cost of and to maintain. Failure to pay these costs will result in the unit being disbanded automatically. This can potentially be dangerous, since any units being transported by the Galley at the time may end up drowning! Unit Properties Physical Description The Galley is a large sailing ship. It is mainly powered by two large sails - one on a foremast and the other on a mainmast -, and steered with a large rudder. Galley crews are trained oarsmen, and can power the vessel even if the winds die down. They are also armed for combat, and can pelt nearby enemies with arrows before closing in for boarding action. The Galley's cargo hold is large enough to carry 5 ground units, making this a transport ship more than anything else. The Galley is a . Attack Properties The Galley has a fairly high Melee Attack strength of . In combat, the ship can deliver an average of points of "raw" per attack. Though this is impressive for a Normal Unit, it must be remembered that the Galley is a . Therefore, while it is quite capable of piercing through light or medium armor, it will typically not do a lot of overall. Eight times per battle, the Galley can also fire a weak . This has a base Attack Strength of , and deals an average of points of "raw" per attack. However, it is less effective the farther away the target is, since it suffers a penalty of for every 3 tiles the arrow has to travel. It's also worth noting that, due to the way the game decides which Attack Type to use against an adjacent target, the Galley will almost never be able to shoot at a target it is next to, as this would require it to have a strength that is higher than half of its . This is extremely difficult to achieve in practice given the initial difference. Both of the Galley's attacks get better with . At the level, the maximum normally attainable, the ship can do an average of points of "raw" per attack in close combat, and from a distance. Defensive Properties The Galley is quite sturdy, possessing , and a Defense score of . It can block about points from Conventional Damage attacks, on average. While it can survive a fair bit of combat though, it is generally not worth risking in battle while transporting units. The Galley does not have a very high Resistance score either - its is just enough for a fair chance at avoiding the weakest Unit Curses and combat maledictions. All three of these statistics improve with however. Other Properties The Galley can traverse Shore and Ocean tiles with a decent speed of , but is unable to move on land. It can also Transport up to 5 units over water, in addition to any number of Heroes. However, should a Galley be destroyed while carrying such units, its passengers will drown and be lost along with it. The speed of any army containing a Galley will typically be determined by that of the Galley. This is because transport ships, in general, override the Movement Allowance of the stack they are in. This applies not only to the units being carried by them, but also to any or ones moving along with the ships. For example, a single Galley can enable an entire stack of Lizardmen infantry to trail alongside it at a rate of , or even speed up Draconians trying to cross a body of water. Unfortunately, some problems may arise if Galleys are grouped with Triremes, due to inconsistencies in how the official game determines both Movement Allowance and carrying capacity. For the former, an incorrect code break causes the speed of any stack containing a transport unit to be set to that of the first such unit found - usually the one created the earliest. If that is a Trireme, which only moves at , then that is what the stack's speed is going to be. However, if it's a Galley, then as long as the group doesn't stop after moving 2 tiles, a Trireme can also move 3 along with them. On the other hand, if the stack is moved step by step, the Trireme won't be able to keep up. For carrying capacity, another bug causes every ship after the first to count as a land unit, meaning that all but one of them will have their capacity reduced by one when moving as a stack. As a result, a Galley grouped with a Trireme can only carry 5 + 1 = 6 units instead of the expected 7. Luckily, this does not matter much if only Galleys are being used, since a mere two of them are already able to transport as many units as can be grouped together with them. The unofficial patches, starting with Insecticide, also circumvent this problem by removing transport capacity altogether, allowing any ship to carry a full stack of units instead. Basic Strategy The Galley is the largest non-magical seafaring transport in the game. With its carrying capacity of 5, it only takes two to move an entire army of units from one continent to another. Galleys are not universally available however. Only 8 out of the 14 Races can build them, and any Town hoping to construct one must, at some point, have a Forest or in its catchment area in order to build a Sawmill, the first of the prerequisite structures for the Ship Yard. The City also needs to be adjacent to a Shore tile, as this is required by the second, the Shipwrights' Guild. As a result, while Galleys are ideal for transporting invasion forces, they may take some advance planning to build efficiently. s can cross land which is narrow diagonally.]] Because Galleys move faster than most units, including Cavalry, they may be useful for speeding up land-based armies even in situations that do not involve crossing over to a different continent. For instance, a Galley can ferry units along a shoreline, or across a bay, allowing them to reach their destination much quicker than they would otherwise, especially if the land route has rough terrain. In the case of infantry units, the Galley's is actually better than traveling on regular, non-enchanted Roads and, as mentioned above, even and units can benefit from moving together with one. When idle, Galleys can also make decent scouts thanks to their speed. However, they still fall slightly behind because of their higher Upkeep Cost and inability to move on land on their own. Regardless, if they are not expected to have to ferry units for some time, it may be better to send them to explore the high seas instead of keeping them on patrol or dismissing them. If there are no uncharted waters nearby though, this can result in a delay in availability should an urgent, unforeseen transport be required. Naturally, if there are multiple Galleys, this can be offset by keeping one of them around and only scouting with the rest, and their movement limitation can also be alleviated somewhat by keeping a cheap land unit on board that can disembark if a large island or continent is discovered. Although it is important to remember that ships destroyed while carrying units will also cause those units to drown, this is actually not that big of an issue in the latest official version of the game. One of the major shortcomings of the original AI is its inability to coordinate naval warfare, or even target water-borne enemy armies with its own. As a result, unless the player attacks with a loaded transport, their ships will generally only come under assault by accident, if they happen to be on the pre-set path of an AI force. However, this is no longer the case starting with the Unofficial Patch 1.50, from which computer players can actively engage in sea combat, and will attack under-defended transports if given the chance. In battle, Galleys are sturdier and slightly more powerful than Triremes, and are fairly adept at protecting their cargo. Alas, while their speed allows them to outmaneuver most opposition, they don't really have a good way of exploiting this advantage, and can usually be treated as simple melee units. Their Ranged Attacks are too weak to pose a serious threat, and may even put them at a disadvantage against enemies if care is not taken to avoid accidentally trying to engage one in close combat. Despite the game allowing the Galley to initiate a Melee Attack against such a unit as long as it still has ammunition left, the Galley will not do any in this case, but will still take the full force of the Counter Attack. Unlike it is with , units carried by a Galley do not get to participate in battles fought over water. They may be possible to bring into the fight by exploiting bugs in the targeting mechanics of the and spells, but they will not be able to move in this scenario, although they can still attack and use spells or abilities, should they have any. Similarly, a Galley left in dry dock in a Town will not show up in combat if that Town comes under siege, even though its crew can still take part in policing the City to reduce Unrest. On the other hand, should a ship be empowered by magic to move over land, but then lose this ability while doing so outside of a settlement, it actually can fight on the map tile it is on, although it will be unable to move during the battle. Ability Overview Ranged Attack x8 * This unit may use a instead of a Melee Attack up to 8 times in each battle. Once the unit's ammo is expended, it must resort to Melee Attacks. Experience Table The following table illustrates how a Galley improves with Experience. Any properties that are not listed here are not affected by in any way. * To achieve this level, either the Warlord Retort or the spell must be in play. ** To achieve this level, both Warlord and must be in play simultaneously. Average Damage Output The table below details the average amount of "raw" that a Galley will deliver with each type of attack, based on . It can be used in comparison to the target's Defense rating to approximate the chance of hurting that target. Acquisition Galleys may be created for in any Town that has a Ship Yard already built. However, to construct this Town Building in the first place, a settlement must meet three criteria. First, it must belong to one of the following Races, as the Ship Yard itself is not available to the remaining six: * Barbarians * Gnolls * High Elves * High Men * Nomads * Orcs * Dark Elves * Draconians Second, the Town needs immediate access to a Shore tile. Having one in the catchment area is not enough - it must be adjacent to the City on the overland map. This allows the construction of the Shipwrights' Guild, one of the prerequisites for building a Ship Yard. Finally, ships of this size require an ample supply of timber, represented by the other building needed to raise a Ship Yard: the Sawmill. This, in turn, requires either a regular Forest tile, or a to be present in the catchment area of the Town. Galleys can not appear as Mercenaries. Category:Units Category:Normal Units Category:Ships